U.S., South Korea agree to strengthen cooperation on North Korea sanctions

Reuters Staff

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un takes part in a photo session with the participants of the 6th Congress of the Democratic Women's Union of Korea in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang on November 22, 2016. KCNA/ via REUTERS

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea and the United States agreed on Thursday to strengthen cooperation on financial sanctions against North Korea, the finance ministry in Seoul said, after Pyongyang’s latest ballistic missile test last month.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and South Korea Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho expressed “great concern” over North Korea’s Feb. 12 ballistic missile test and promised to follow through with United Nations sanctions, as well as their own, the ministry said in a statement after a call between the pair.

Mnuchin and Yoo also reaffirmed the close economic relationship between the United States and South Korea and agreed to talk in greater depth at a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors this month.